Gun turret



prl 10, 1945. R. B. LORD 2,373,127

GUN TURRET Filed June l5, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR YA L B. LORD ATTOR NEY D R O L B. R.

GUN TURRET Filed June 15, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R m QN! N E S( A W .@.QH l wmvx hwk mw% m m, ik@ NN m.. .//I QN NW. NN w Q I) w E n v \I \\\m W NA.. AN 1" .M mm A tun ATTOR N E Y irons.

Patented Apr. 1 0, 1945 Royal `Bertrand Lord, United States Army, Washington, D. C.

Application June 15, 1942, Serial No. 442,019

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 2 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates toa rotatable turret top adaptedv for use with portable gun emplacements for machine guns or other small weapons, and more particularly toa turret top construction adapted for use with a gun emplacement of the type disclosed in my applicati-on for United States Letters, Patent Serial No.

358,694, iiied September 27, 1940, which has matured into Patent No. 2,317,3921of April 27, 19.43, `of which the present application is a continuation-in-part.

While the use of rotary turrets mounted on antifriction bearingsr is well known in connection with armored car constructions., coin collection truck constructions, and bank guard cages, etc., the structures heretofore used for these purposes do not possess suilcient ruggedness and resistance to projectile re from light artillery weapons tomerit their use for combat purposes.. By my invention, I provide a structure obtaining. the benets of prior structures, together with the strength and safety requirements necessary to protect personnel in combat zones.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable Hat-top pillbox with a rotary turret top whereby a virtually unlimited eld of lire ca-n be obtained.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine gun turret which is mounted by means of antifriction bearings on a flat-top pillbox and. which is provided with reinforcing members to prevent horizontal or vertical displacement of the turret.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary turret top for a. portable gun yemplacement in which the turret mounting is braced against horizontal and vertical displacement by means of anchors,` a guard ring construction, and a boxed bracing formed of angle Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary turret topfor a portable gun emplacement in which reinforcing means are provided to prevent horizontal or vertical displacement of the turret, protective means are provided to prevent dust from entering the bear- -ing space, and in which the turret dome has formed therein a ring slotv of sucient sizeto allow the muzzle of a gun mounted therein to be swung through a. vertical angle greater than 90.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and attached drawings, and the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of my turret top gun emplacement, with the emplacement par tially buried in the ground, and, with the turret rotatedso that the ring slot is facing the observer;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top sectionalized view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view on line A-t of Fig. 3; Y

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an element of my invention.

The gun emplacement I is constructed of fabricated interchangeable parts of heavy steel armor having any suitable size and vthickness and comprises a plurality of interchangeable base or side plates or members 25 assembled to provide a vertically extending rectangular or box-like structure having lapped end joints or edgesl, With one edge of one of each of the plates lapping over one edge of another plate and with one inner edge of a plate abutting against the inner surface'of another plate or, in other words, the plates are symmetrically arranged'in pairs. Withthe diagonally opposite ends of one pair of plates abutting diagonally opposite ends of another pair. These interchangeable base. plates 25 are all of the same size and shape and are held in an assembled position by means of vertically extending heavy structural angle members 'or bars 21, one of each of which is provided on one of each of the inner corners of the base plates and connected thereto by bolts 28 and nuts 28'.

The base plates 25 are provided with central elongated ringports 2 andV on the outer exposed upper` side portions of the base plates are a plurality of interchangeable side cover plates 29 preferably of'y a greater thickness than the base plates and havingelongated aperatures 2' therein, which register with the tiring ports 2 in the base plates whereby laminated firing ports are provided in the emplacement. The side cover plates 29 are illustrated as being in pairs and arranged-around the exposed upper surface of the base plates to provide lapped end joints or edges, with diagonally opposite ends of one pair of side cover plates abutting diagonally opposite ends of another pair. The elongated firing ports 2 in the base plates 25 are closed by mea-ns of interchangeable inside port covers or slides 3. The port covers 3 are adapted to slidably operate in interchangeable heavy upper and lower port cover supporting members 24 and 24', respectively, which are detachably mounted on the inner surfaces of the base plates. The upper cover supporting members 24 are mounted closely adjacent to the upper edges of the firing ports 2 with the upper supporting surfaces 30 thereof terminating below the upper ends of the base plates for receiving a flat top cover 'I lhaving a thickness that the upper surface thereof is flush with the upper ends of the baseplates 25 and the side cover plates 29.

The iiat top cover 'I is provided with a centrally disposed circular opening 8 shown more clearly in Fig. 2 and has a substantially hem-spherical turret tcp 4 rotatably mounted thereon, which turret top 4 is provided with a firing slot 5 from which projects a gun 5. A circular ring 9 is attached by welding or riveting to the upper surlace of top 7 and is centered so that its inner edge It, shown in Fig. 4, overlaps the edge II of the opening 5 in top member 1, thereby causing ring 9 to overlie a portion of the opening 8. The upper surface of ring 9 has a shallow groove I2 formed therein, said groove being the lower1 race for a plurality of antifriction bearings I3, ball bearings being disclosed in the present embodiment. The bottom edge surface of turret .il is likewise provided with a circular shallow groove i4 and this groove forms the upper race for antiriction members I3. Turret 4 is thus free to rotate through an angle of 360 with a minimum of frictional resistance.

In order to insure against displacement of the turret Il, heavy anchors I5 are attached by suitable means, such as bolts IE, to the interior wall of the turret. In the particular embodiment of the invention disclosed, eight anchor members are used. Each anchor I5 has a substantially hookshaped portion I'I (see Fig. 5) the lower edge oi said portion Il being extended beneath the edge I of ring 9. In this manner, vertical displacement of turret 4 is prevented since the hook member Il will abut against the under side of ring 9 if the turret is lifted. Since anchors I are disposed opposite each other, i. e. on opposite sides of the interior wall of turret 4, horizontal displacement of said turret is likewise prevented.

In addition to the anchors I5 which are mounted on the interior wall of turret 1I, other strengthening and reinforcing means for preventing displacement of turret 4 are mounted on the upper side of top plate 1. The rst of these additional means is guard ring I8 which is bolted or welded to member I and ring 9, The inner side of guard ring I8 abuts against ring 9 substantially throughout the latters outer circumference. A dust ring I9 made of light spring metal with an approximate thickness of twenty gauge is fastened to the top surface of guard ring i8 by screw members 2li. Dust ring I9 is concave in cross-section (see Fig. 4) and presses lightly against the outer side of turret 4, the' pressure being great enough to prevent' the entrance of dust into the bearing space and still not prevent substantially free rotation of the turret. In unassembled condition, dust ring I9 takes the form of four arc-shaped quadrants which,

when attached to guard ring I8, form a complete circular ring. By the provision ci the dust ring, the bearing space is protected against foreign dust particles which would tend to interfere with smooth operation and, by the provision of the f greater than 90.

guard ring, the bearing space is protected against penetration by projectiles. Guard ring I 8 can be made of material of various thicknesses depending upon the type of hostile re that would be encountered.

In order to further strengthen the turret top section and to brace guard ring I8 which surrounds the bearings I3 and the bearing races I2 and I4, a plurality of angle irons 2l, or similar strengthening members, are welded onto the upper surface of member 1. These strengthening members 2| abut guard ring I8 tangentially at four points as shown in Fig. 3, being welded to the guard ring at these points of contact. Members 2| are further positioned across the corners of top portion 'I of emplacement I to form the long sides or hypotenuses of four right triangles,

vthe top corner portions of member I constituting the or right angle sides, By this construction, guard ring I8, and consequently the base portion of the turret including the bearing assembly, is "boxed in and braced thereby preventing displacement of the turret by hits from light artillery shells, or similar projectiles of heavier caliber than ordinary small arms fire. Since the "bo-xing in effect is symmetrical, equal resistance is offered to hits coming from any direction, including substantial protection against bomb hits.

Adjacent the lower edge of ring slot 5, a mount 22 is provided which supports gun 6, the latter being a machine gun or similar suitable weapon. A pivot point 23 on mount 22 extends above the lower edge of slot 5 in turret 4 so that the muzzle of gun 6 can be depressed below a horizontal line through pivot point 23. Similarly, gun mount 22 exten-ds far enough away from the inner wall of turret 4 to permit the gun E to be elevated to, or slightly past, a vertical line through the pivot pin 23. The muzzle of gun 6 can thus be swung through an angle somewhat This freedom of vertical movement, combined with the 360 rotation which may be attained, gives the operator a virtually unlimited eld of fire from the turret.

From the above description, it will be seen that my invention provides a convenient means of converting a substantially flat-top box emplacement of the type shown and described in my aforementioned application to a revolving turret top emplacement. By the use of the turret top, a greater eld of fire is obtained without materially sacrificing the ruggedness requisite to combat use. The turret top is' mounted so that it is freely rotatable and is protected from vertical and horizontal displacement, whereby substantially all of the advantages of prior turret constructions are obtained with the addition of ruggedness suflicient for combat use because of the novel bracing structure. The particular thicknesses of metals used in the various portions of my invention will necessarily depen-d upon the size of the emplacement and the type of use to which it is to be put. As an example, and one which I have found to be suitable for present day combat use, I have constructed the turret 4 of 1%2" armor plate, and the plate top portion 'I of 1" armor plate.

Since the turret dome 4 is secured by removable anchors I 5, and since top plate I rests, unattached, upon the surfaces 30 of the-upper port cover supporting members 24 provided on the vertical base plates 25 of the gun emplacement I, the turret top structure can be quickly removed from the rest of the pillbox structure. The remaining portions of the gun emplaceme-nt l can then be disassembled as described in my aore mentioned application. Top plate 'l could also be detachably bolted to the ledges 24 without aiTecting the ready disassembly. It will thus be seen that my turret top gun emplacement has the additional advantage of quick disassembly, enabling the user to readily transport the pillbox" to another location and reassemble it there. This portability could not be obtained if the pillbox" had to be transported as a unit.

While I have disclosed and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not Wish to be restricted thereto, and that I intend to include all modifications thereof which would be obvious to a person skilled in the art and which come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

l.. A device of the character described comprising a supporting member having a centrally disposed opening therein, a horizontally disposed ring secured to the upper surface of said member in concentric relation with respect to said opening, said ring having an outer diameter greater and an inner diameter less than said opening, whereby a portion of the ring rests on said member and the remaining portion thereof overlies a part of the said opening, a dome shaped turret, a lower race formed in the upper surface of said ring and a complemental upper race formed in the bottom edge of said turret, antifriction bearings engaging said races whereby said turret is freely rotatable on said ring, turret anchors mounted on the interior lower margin of said turret, said anchors being formed with channeled portions extending beneath the bottom edge of said turret and movably engaging that portion o said ring overlying said opening whereby vertical displacement of said turret is prevented, said anchors being arranged in spaced relation on said 'turret to avoid horizontal displacement thereof,

A2. A device of the character described comprising a supporting member having a centrally disposed opening therein, a horizontally arranged ring secured to the upper surface of said member and mounted concentrically with respect to said opening, said ring having an outer diameter' greater and an inner diameter less than said opening whereby a portion of the ring rests onr turret on said ring, turret anchors mounted on the interior lower margin of said turret, said anchors being formed with channeled portions extending beneath the bottom edge of said turret and movably engaging said ring to prevent vertical displacement of said turret, said anchors being arranged in spaced relation on said turret to avoid horizontal displacement of the turret, a guard ring secured to said member and rstmentioned ring, a exible member mounted on said guard ring and abutting said turret, said flexible member adapted to prevent the entrance of dust into said antifriction bearings, and reinforcing members secured to said guard ring and arranged across corners of said supporting mem ber.

ROYAL BERTRAND LORD. 

